Shenmue HD remaster domain names seemingly registered by Sega Europe

Ahead of Shenmue 3, are HD remakes of the originals on the horizon?

Amid the burgeoning hype for Yu Suzuki's long-awaited and successfully crowdfunded Shenmue 3, Sega—publisher of Shenmue and Shenmue 2—announced it was "investigating" the possibility of remasters for the original games last May. While noting it was "not as simple as porting the games to the current platforms," it appears Sega Europe has since registered the domain names ShenmueHD.com and ShenmueRemastered.com.

As reported by Gematsu, both domain names were filed in September and can be viewed via domain search site WhoIs here and here.

Although Sega has made clear its desire to redo Ryo Hazuki's Dreamcast-dwelling open-world adventures in the past, community manager Dan Sheridan discussed the challenges of doing so via a Q&A session last year.

"Sadly, it's not as simple as porting the games to the current platforms, as we would need to ensure that any HD remaster lives up to the quality of the original titles," said Sheridan. "And with games as immersive as Shenmue 1 and 2, there are further complications from licensed products that were included in the original games. That said, we'd love to do it, and are currently investigating how to make it a reality."

As it stands, both proposed domains return blank pages however HD remakes of the original games—now over 17 and 15 years old, respectively—would be wonderful ahead of the incoming Shenmue 3, particularly given the fact the second series entry ended on a cliffhanger.

We've reached out to Sega for comment and will update as and when we hear back.